There’s a clear gap in the beauty industry between job seekers and those looking to hire, and Kohot is here to close it. In a conversation with Vidhi Arya, Vikas Vij, MD, Professional Beauty India, sheds light on the platform and what makes it so unique.
India’s beauty and wellness industry is booming and growing rapidly. However, behind the glow and glam, lies a growing gap. Salons, spas, and even wellness centres often struggle to find skilled professionals. On the other hand, equally talented beauticians, hairdressers, and front-end staff are also often unaware of the right job opportunities at the right time.
Since, even today, recruitment in the industry remains largely informal and scattered. WhatsApp forwards, word of mouth, and outdated job listings become the go-to for many. But this disorganised system has made hiring slow, unstructured, and inefficient. That’s until now!
Enter Kohot, a dedicated matchmaking platform exclusively for the beauty industry. A part of the Professional Beauty Group, Kohot bridges the gap between talent and opportunity, instantly and seamlessly. With a smart, user-centric platform built specifically for salons, spas, and professionals, it makes finding talent and jobs easier and more organised than ever before.
Whether a job seeker looking to build a thriving career or a salon owner racing against time to fill a vacancy, Kohot connects them instantly. Let’s learn more about the platform from Vikas Vij:
What is Kohot and what was the inspiration behind creating it?
“Kohot is an idea that was born during the difficult times we faced a few years ago during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Pre-COVID, we at Professional Beauty India (PBI) were essentially an exhibitions and events company focused on organising large-scale events across the country, where we connected buyers (the salon community) with their partner community (distributors and wholesalers of professional hair and beauty products).
Through the lockdown, bringing people together physically became an impossibility, and we had to reflect internally on what our purpose at PBI was. And it was clear our purpose is focused on connecting people, regardless of boundaries. So, we set about doing that using the virtual realm. Hence, came about a large number of new initiatives from the PBI team, including our expanded social media presence, the launch of the PBHJ magazine and Kohot, the industry’s dedicated recruitment platform.
During that period, we conducted a series of feedback programmes with the community. What came up as the leading challenges facing the salon and spa industry were skilling and recruitment. We decided to tackle the recruitment challenge first.
Kohot, a play on the word, cohort, which means a group of people, is the industry’s match making platform. It allows an instant connection between those seeking jobs and employers seeking staff. Using smart technology and a user-centric platform, Kohot solves the problem of providing job opportunities to tens of thousands of people in our industry by helping them build a digital professional profile, a career management platform, and access to the best industry jobs.”
How does Kohot differentiate itself from other job or talent platforms in the market today?
“When it comes to finding your perfect partner, there are dozens of apps available out there. Think Bumble, Hinge, Match, Shaadi.com! When it comes to finding your ideal salon or spa employer, or beautician or hairdresser to work for you, the choices are almost non-existent. The industry is highly disorganised, relying on informal and offline means to fill positions.
This is where Kohot comes in as a simple, quick and effective way of finding jobs and candidates. Over time, we believe that having an organised and professional way of matching employers and talent will help drive standards and best practice in the industry. This will allow both sides to grow and prosper.
Our core differentiator for Kohot is that it has been built with the salon community in mind first and foremost. For the salon, it allows them to source talent for different functions of their business, from the front desk to the therapist, to the hairdresser. Using one dashboard, they can view and connect with a variety of candidates in real time, in one place. They can see the candidate’s profile, education and work history whilst enabling them to do live text or video chats/interviews as needed.
For the candidate, Kohot is their digital profile, which they keep updated as they develop their careers and continually upskill. It leaves aside their challenge of maintaining a resume, managing their work history, updating their technical education and references. Kohot is their one platform for collating all their work and technical background and staying one step ahead of their peers.”
How does Kohot eliminate the practice of WhatsApp job forwards?
“Kohot is not designed to eliminate other resources that help solve the recruitment challenge for the salon community. Tools like WhatsApp, LinkedIn, social media handles, word of mouth all play an important part in supporting candidates find jobs and salons find staff. But we believe that this process can be streamlined, made more efficient and transparent and help connect the right candidate with the right salon job more quickly and seamlessly. With transparency, will also come an improvement in best practices from both the candidate as well as the employer side. This will serve the community’s growth in the right direction over the long term.”
How does the location filter enhance the job search experience?
“There are a number of features built into Kohot that are focused on making it easier for salons to find their candidate more quickly, and for candidates to find suitable jobs more quickly. For instance, live chat and video interview features, a dashboard to manage relevant jobs and applications for candidates, and a dashboard to manage employee profiles for the salon.
And one of the key features is a location filter, which allows the candidate to look for roles in a specific locality of their preference, and for salons to promote roles to candidates within a specified location. The reason this was built is to improve the interactions and suitability of applications to the salon and to reduce the time it takes to hire the right candidate, which is one of the most frustrating parts of the recruitment process for employers.
We’ve made Kohot using the latest AI software to match candidate profiles with relevant vacancies by location, flexibility, salary conditions and much more. Using our smart technology, employers only match with relevant, quality candidates as per the skills and experience criteria that they set, instantly!
No need to rely on old-fashioned resumes and long CVs. Candidates build their profiles using written, audio or video content showcasing their skills to prospective employers. Employers can also set up their job postings and hit search. Job done, job filled, find your Kohot!”
How do you see Kohot evolving over time?
“Over time, as we gain a sizeable mass of both the candidates and salon profiles, we see Kohot expanding to other parts of the industry’s ecosystem. E.g. the brand space also has significant challenges when it comes to recruitment. Alongside making more job opportunities available to job seekers, we see greater transparency coming through in terms of qualifications, references, experience and more. This will keep pushing the benchmarks that both employers and employees need to rise to if they want to attract the best talent, as well as being in a prime position to land the best roles. As these benchmarks rise, candidates will need to invest in continuous learning to ensure they are able to compete against their peer group. Employers will need to keep improving their staff culture and practices to attract quality talent, which in the longer term will only be good for the industry.”
Join Kohot at PBI Delhi
Kohot is the recruitment partner for Professional Beauty India, Delhi.
PBI Delhi will take place on June 30 and July 1 at Pragati Maidan, Hall – 2G, 3G & 4G, Delhi. Join in to know more about the platform and how it can help your career and business.
Register Now: https://professionalbeauty.in/register/delhi?source=Instagramorganic